The Museum of Advantageous Arts (MFA) Boston returned two artefacts to the Oba of Benin in a ceremony at Nigeria Home in New York Metropolis. Looted through the notorious “punitive expedition” assault by British forces on the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, these artistic endeavors—a bronze aid plaque and a terracotta and iron head—shall be taken into possession by Nigeria’s Nationwide Fee for Museums and Monuments and the nation’s embassy in Washington, DC. They are going to finally be delivered to His Royal Majesty Omo N’Oba Ewuare II, the descendant of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Benin, which is situated in present-day Nigeria.
The restituted objects can each be traced to the gathering of Augustus Pitt-Rivers, founding father of the Pitt-Rivers Museum, now an archeological archive on the College of Oxford in England. The primary piece, Commemorative Head, is a Sixteenth- or Seventeenth-century sculpture of a determine’s head and neck. Its final traceable level of provenance was in 1899, when it was bought by the London-based supplier William Cutter to a different supplier, William Downing Webster.
Commemorative Head (Sixteenth or Seventeenth century) MFA Boston
The second piece, Reduction Plaque Exhibiting Two Officers with Raised Swords, is a placing bronze wall hanging from the Sixteenth century that may be traced on to the Niger Coast Protectorate, the British-controlled navy power that occupied Benin, which put it up on the market in 1898, one yr after the Benin Bloodbath.
“I’m happy to ship these two artistic endeavors to Prince Aghatise Erediuwa on behalf of His Royal Majesty Oba Ewuare II,” Matthew Teitelbaum, the MFA’s director, stated in an announcement. “As custodians of those distinctive objects for the previous 12 years, it’s deeply gratifying to see them returned to their rightful proprietor.”
After the Pitt-Rivers Museum closed within the Sixties and its collections have been dispersed, the American funding titan Robert Owen Lehman acquired the 2 works being restituted as a part of his assortment of Benin artefacts. He finally determined to donate them, in addition to the remainder of his trove, to the MFA Boston in 2013 and 2018. Final April, the MFA made the weird resolution to shut its gallery devoted to things from Benin and return all however 5 artefacts to Lehman, because the museum didn’t personal the items outright and didn’t have the ability to unilaterally restitute them.
As of at present, three artefacts from the Benin Kingdom stay within the MFA’s assortment, all of which sport “inconclusive” provenance. Analysis is ongoing to find the circumstances underneath which these things left the Kingdom of Benin.
The stress to return looted Benin artefacts has loomed massive in artwork historic conversations during the last decade. A rising variety of establishments in Europe and North America have made efforts to repatriate objects. In February of this yr, the Netherlands returned 113 stolen Benin Bronzes to Nigeria; in July 2024, the Stanley Museum of Artwork on the College of Iowa turned the primary American museum to return Benin artefacts to the dominion. In October of final yr, the US Supreme Courtroom declined to listen to a case searching for to dam the Smithsonian Establishment from returning 29 Benin Bronzes in its assortment to Nigeria.
